Thursday, August 11, 2011

Thrifty crafty sister

Hello folks, I was chatting with my sister Emily and she volunteered to write a blog post for me. I thought this was a great idea, especially since I've been crazy busy lately. So, here she is, in all her thrifty goodness:

As Karen has mentioned, Henry is the newest addition to our family. As with all babies, this has meant an addition of stuff to the household as well--like this cute giraffe!

I love this because not only is it cute, but, unlike a lot of things that Henry owns and couldn't care less about, he is actually really amused by it. It plays "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and helps him stay happy during "Tummy Time."

The other night, I had just put Henry down to sleep in his crib and came downstairs. I heard the faint chiming of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" from the back of the house. That's weird, I thought to myself. And then it all clicked: Reuben! Reuben is the former latest addition to our household, my husband's hunting dog.

We had left the giraffe on Henry's playmat on the rug and Reuben had stealthily swiped it! I called Reuben and he came trotting up, looking pleased with the giraffe in his mouth. He obediently turned it over when commanded, and I inspected the damages.

Oh no! My husband and I decide that the poor giraffe should not be earless or hornless, so I start scrounging for scraps. I didn't want to take the time and money to go to the fabric store, so I was hoping to find free materials that would be a good enough match for color and texture.

I ended up finding different items in the house to "borrow" replacement parts from. The horn was the easiest match. It looked very similar to the cover on my body pillow. I turned the case inside out, found the fattest seam portion, and started snipping. I cut out enough for a horn and zig-zag stiched along to the cut to make sure it wouldn't unravel. Once the case was turned right-side-out again, you couldn't tell any change had been made.

For the ear, I looked at a variety of washcloths and bibs. The orange washcloth had been a gift from my Grandma to use when traveling for taking off make-up without worrying about staining someone's guest towels. I didn't mind altering it since it wasn't a part of a set that we regularly used for ourselves or guests. The best color match for the back of the ear came from a cheap bib. I was also able to cut a portion and still keep the useable function of the bib. After I swiped my chunks from each, I sewed up the lose ends to keep them from unraveling. Ideally I wouldn't have altered the look of any of the "parts" pieces, but as I couldn't avoid it, I was willing to change the bib and washcoth as I valued the giraffe a lot more than either of those items.

Now it was time to work the magic. Truth be told, Henry didn't really care that his giraffe was missing an ear. He still liked it.

I sewed most of the ear on the machine. For the handsewn portion, I was able to use some thread that Reuben had... er... loved at an earlier date. Now that's thrifty!

I attached the ear, and Henry decided that he REALLY didn't care, so we took a break to nurse, get the oil changed, and use my "$10 off a purchase of $10 or more" coupon at JC Penny--I love when those come in the mail!

Back to business! I hand-sewed the horn, attached it, and voila! Giraffe makeover complete!